


Affection Abweichen

by MagitekUnit05953234



Series: deutsch-englisch wörterbuch über lieben [2]
Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Developing Relationship, Everyone is Queer, Fluff, Implied Sexual Content, Implied/Referenced Neglect, M/M, Polyamory
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-11
Updated: 2020-02-11
Packaged: 2021-02-27 20:35:06
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,238
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22661842
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MagitekUnit05953234/pseuds/MagitekUnit05953234
Summary: Gladio is back.Gladio is back and Prompto has absolutely no idea what he’s going to say to him.
Relationships: Gladiolus Amicitia/Prompto Argentum/Noctis Lucis Caelum/Ignis Scientia, Prompto Argentum/Noctis Lucis Caelum/Ignis Scientia
Series: deutsch-englisch wörterbuch über lieben [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1630333
Comments: 8
Kudos: 83





	Affection Abweichen

**Author's Note:**

  * For [whythekwehnot](https://archiveofourown.org/users/whythekwehnot/gifts).



> Hey look, _another_ happy one. Kind of wild, huh?

Gladio is back. 

Gladio is back, and Prompto is crawling out of his skin from nervousness.

“It’s fine,” Noct assures when Prompto voices his concern. Gladio had fallen right into bed the minute they got back to the Leville after the power plant debacle, and is now dead to the world, on top of the covers with his shoes still on and everything. “He’s fine with… uh. Queer shit. I wouldn’t want him around if he wasn’t.”   
Oh gods. Oh gods, Prompto hadn’t even  _ considered _ the possibility that Gladio could be homophobic. No, Prompto was too hung up on the fact that in the three weeks Gladio was away, Prompto managed to commit what was probably blasphemy or treason or something by shacking up with not only the advisor to the Crown, but the Crown itself.

Noct being the Crown, and all.

Surely there are rules against fraternization between a prince —or king— and his guard. Surely there must be. Ignis hasn’t said anything but considering that he and Noct were secretly together for a year prior to all of this, maybe he’s got an exception. Maybe he found a loophole. That’s fine. That’s okay, but what about a commoner? What about  _ Prompto _ ? And what about a ridiculous three-way relationship that Ignis delicately calls a “polycule” instead of what Prompto can only vaguely rationalize as a royal harem —not that Noct is all too keen on using his political position for  _ anything  _ much less artificially constructing a romantic relationship between himself and his retainers. What would Gladio think about that?

Anyway.  
  
Gladio is back and Prompto has absolutely no idea what he’s going to say to him.

Because they are going to tell him… right?

“I have no qualms,” Ignis says, running his hand through Prompto’s hair.  
  
Prompto didn’t have a lot of things like this when he was younger. His parents pretty much booked it when he was thirteen, and before that they had only done the perfunctory motions of parenting. Basic needs and not a lot more. As a result, he melts whenever Ignis gets touchy-feely like this. Having Ignis comb through Prompto’s hair with his fingertips makes Prompto all warm and fuzzy and much more aware of every part of himself in a different way than usual. Not self-conscious, just… awake. Soft.

“You really think it’s okay to tell him?” Prompto burrows himself deeper beneath the blankets, pressing against Ignis’s side as Noct gets ready to get to bed beside Gladio. The beds in this suite are, regrettably, only big enough for two. “He won’t be mad?”   
“He won’t be,” Noct yawns through the words, hopping on one leg to strip off his jeans. “And if he is I’ll make him knock it off. Don’t worry about it.”

Easy for him to say.

»»———— XV ————««

Gladio blinks. Stares. “All three of you?”

“Yep,” Noct tilts his chin up almost like a challenge. His hand tightens around Prompto’s, and Prompto wishes his own hand wasn’t quite so clammy. “All three of us.”

“You and Prompto I expected,” Gladio falters, his eyes flicking over to Ignis on Noct’s other side. “But  _ Ignis _ ?”

“Me and—” Prompto chokes, twisting to look from Noct to Gladio in rapid succession. “You thought? Me and Noct?”

“I mean he isn’t wrong,” Noct murmurs into Prompto’s ear.

Gladio nods, visibly gathering himself up. “Lunafreya knows?”   
“Of course,” Ignis sounds almost offended at that. It had been one of the first things Prompto had asked about when they formally hashed out how this relationship was supposed to work, and Ignis hadn’t been fond of the idea of being some sort of mistress. Some sort of mis… ter. You know, whatever the male version of a mistress is. “Noctis told her of the possibility before he and I became involved. She gave her blessing for both Prompto and myself.”

“Alright then,” Gladio shrugs. “Congrats.”

And that’s that, it seems. Gladio doesn’t have much else to say about it, and things continue on just like they had before Gladio left. They depart the hotel a few hours after their big talk, and Gladio regales them with the tale of what he did when he was away. It sounds a little fake, maybe overexaggerated, but there’s no way Prompto would dare call him on it. Especially if it really was that wild. It’d probably be rude.

Prompto can’t help but feel a little weird in the tent with Gladio again. He’s gotten used to it being just him and his boyfriends in here, so laying in their usual puppy pile feels kinda odd what with Gladio squished into the corner like he always was.

“I told you it would be fine,” Noct draws Prompto out of his overexamination of their sleeping arrangement with a quick kiss pressed to the corner of his mouth. “Stop worrying about it.”

“Weren’t you just asleep?” Prompto grouses, though he happily returns the favor. Noct pulls away after a moment with reddened lips and a starry look in his eyes, barely perceptible in the weak light filtering in through the slightly unzipped portion of the tent’s door.

»»———— XV ————««

“You’re up pretty early,” Prompto sits down next to Gladio, dangling his feet off the side of the haven. “What’s up?”

“You’re up early too,” Gladio juts his chin up. “Sun’s not up yet.”   
“Ah well,” Prompto laughs sheepishly. “Got a little too warm to sleep in there so I figured I’d sit out and get some fresh air for a little while.”   
“I’ll bet.”

Gladio doesn’t say anything else. Prompto doesn’t really know what to do with the silence, so he watches the sky slowly grow lighter shade by shade and think. It isn’t until the very edge of the horizon tinges white then red that Prompto musters up the courage to break the silence and say what’s been on his mind.

“So, you’re really not bothered by… us? Me and Noct and Iggy? I know it’s a lot. And it happened when you weren’t there and all. And it’s kinda weird. You don’t have to say it’s cool just to be nice or anything. I mean—”

“When have I ever said something just to be nice?” Gladio shakes his head, an odd sort of smile curling one corner of his mouth up. He takes a deep breath. “You know, I thought for a while there that it would be me and Ignis.”

It takes a moment for that to process. Prompto’s ears go hot when it does, something like shame coloring his skin red. “You and— oh. You like him? Ignis? And then I just swoop in and— aw shit, Gladio. I had no idea! I swear. You never said anything, and when they asked me out I just said yes. I didn’t really think that maybe you—”

“Calm down,” Gladio lightly knocks his knuckles against Prompto’s temple. “I ain’t mad. I just didn’t expect it. Besides, Ignis and Noct have been involved with each other for way longer than you have with them. I can’t really blame  _ you  _ for Ignis being about as far off the table as he can be.”

Prompto swallows. “Still, though. I’m sorry. I know that… I know that sucks to like someone like that. Someone you can’t be with, you know?”

“Not your fault,” Gladio stretches, lacing his fingers together and extending his arms to the sky with his palms up. “I didn’t really think it would ever happen anyway. It was just a thought.”

“I won’t tell Ignis. Your secret is safe with me.” Prompto crosses his heart.  
  
Gladio opens his mouth partway through his stretch, but before he can reply Prompto blurts out an absolute disaster of a statement.

“I didn’t even know you like men,” Prompto says and then promptly covers his mouth with one hand and groans at his own stupidity.

“We’re a real basket of pansies, the four of us,” Gladio brings his arms down and drops a hand onto Prompto’s head, ruffling his hair. It’s different than when Ignis will card through Prompto’s hair at night, but it still suffuses Prompto with the same sort of warmth. Prompto files that sensation away to examine later. “I don’t think anyone saw that coming.”

“I’m not complaining,” Prompto brushes Gladio’s hand off him and clicks his tongue, shooting him a finger gun. “Can’t argue with getting two entire boyfriends, right?”

“Beats you going on and on about Cindy every day,” Gladio grins. “You couldn’t have laid the overcompensation on thicker if you tried. ‘Oh goddess of gears, mechanic of my heart, bearer of the most glorious—’”

“Shut up!” Prompto whines, lunging over to cover Gladio’s mouth with a hand. Instead of bracing against the motion and pushing Prompto off, Gladio lets himself be pushed over and snags the back of Prompto’s shirt in a hand to take Prompto down with him. Prompto ends up solidly on top of Gladio, who’s sprawled out on his back against the haven’s stone floor. Prompto’s heart hammers in his chest and Gladio smiles up at him, his cheeks pushing his eyes closed from beneath Prompto’s hand. It’s as if the world has frozen for a moment.

“Well well,” Ignis says, having emerged from the tent to start his day as soon as the sun began to peek over the cliffs. “Am I interrupting something?”

»»———— XV ————««

“You guys are all  _ dating _ ?” Iris’s voice blasts out from the phone —which is on speaker naturally— like a siren, and Gladio places it on Prompto’s knee and backs away like he’s trying not to spook a coeurl kitten. “And nobody  _ told me _ ?”

“Just uh,” Prompto pleads for help from his boyfriend with his eyes, but Noct resolutely refuses to look up from his games of Kings Knight and Ignis becomes intensely involved in the sudoku puzzle he’s solving from the cheap book Prompto picked up the last time they ran through the Verinas Mart. “Just me and Noct and uh… Iggy, too. It’s really recent.”

“Not Gladdy too, huh? Wouldn’t kill you to keep me in the loop,” Iris complains, though she doesn’t really sound all too put out. “You guys have  _ got  _ to tell me everything.”

_ Everything _ is a bit of a loaded concept, especially when Prompto’s mind immediately flies to places he definitely shouldn’t be talking about with a fifteen year old. As if sensing Prompto’s accidental mental adventure directly into the gutter, Gladio snatches his phone back up and wanders a few feet to the other side of the campfire. “They went on a little vacation when I was out in Cleigne. Got together while renting out a beach house down in Galdin. I hear it was real romantic.”

“You guys stayed at Galdin without me?!”

Prompto has a feeling it’s just going to be more of  _ that  _ the longer Gladio talks, so he leans back in his chair and lets himself tune the call out.

“Next time we go to Caem is gonna be an adventure,” Prompto casts a grin over at Noct, who Prompto knows was the object of Iris’s preteen —and teen, for that matter— affections for ages now. “Have fun with that, dude.”

“We do have to go to the Vesperpool first,” Ignis interjects. “Now that we have a party of four once more and will not be putting Noct in grave danger for want of his Shield, we need to retrieve mythril from Steyliff Grove. We can’t depart for Altissia without it.”   
“Right,” Prompto watches Gladio pace from side to side as he finishes up his call with his sister, now off speaker phone. “I almost forgot about that, not going to lie.”

“We have been somewhat preoccupied,” Ignis allows. “But it is about time for us to continue onward. The Empire won’t wait for us forever, after all. It is only a matter of time before they send something worse than a handful of magitek troopers or an inexperienced general our way.”

Noct grumbles something under his breath but drops his phone facedown in his lap and reaches a hand out across the gap between his and Ignis’s chairs. Ignis takes Noct’s hand in his own free one without looking, continuing to fill in his current sudoku grid. Prompto can’t help but smile at seeing it.

Gladio finishes up his call. His eyes trail from Prompto to Noct to his hand entwined with Ignis’s. The other two don’t seem to notice Gladio’s eyes on them, but Prompto does.

Rather than jealousy or annoyance or anything Prompto knows he’d probably feel seeing a scene like this involving someone he has feelings for, Gladio just radiates  _ content  _ as he settles into his camp chair. He meets eyes with Prompto for a second, and Prompto drops his down to his phone when he’s caught staring.

Prompto’s phone pings with a message while he pretends to be busy with an idle game. He pulls down the notification until it fills the screen and pillows his chin in his hand as he reads it.

**GLADIO** **(8:43 PM)** As long as everyone is safe and happy, I have nothing to complain about. Don’t worry about how I’m doing. Ignis is hardly the only person I have ever held a torch for, and he won’t be the last. Enjoy what you have while you can, alright?

Prompto takes a moment to consider his reply, dancing his thumbs in the air over his screen.

He begins to type.

**PROMPTO** **(8:44 PM)** are you sure?

 **PROMPTO** **(8:44 PM)** its kind of a lot to just kinda. deal with isnt it?

 **GLADIO** **(8:44 PM)** I’m a big boy, Prompto. I can handle my friends dating each other.

»»———— XV ————««

Prompto is fucked.

The thing about Prompto is, he has a bad tendency to like  _ everyone _ . All the time. Always.

Any guy who shows him the vaguest interest often ends up planted firmly in the section of his brain dedicated to crushing on people to a terrible degree. 

When it comes to the people currently involved in Prompto’s life, this generally isn’t that much of a problem. He currently has two amazing and loving boyfriends who he’d give his life for, and that is double the amount most people get. Prompto is very lucky.

_ However _ ,

Gladio. Oh man,  _ Gladio _ . Gladio is a bit of a new development for Prompto. Prompto has always had his eye on him in a half-intimidated sort of way. They were never as close as Prompto is with Noct or Ignis. Anyone with eyes and at least four brain cells could tell you that Gladio is aesthetically a god among men, but it's really not about that sort of thing when it comes to Prompto being attracted to someone. 

...the perfect pecs certainly help, though.

Gods, those pecs.

Anyway!

Prompto is definitely fucked, because not only is he currently very happily involved in a romantic relationship with two of his best friends, but is now harboring some new but quickly growing feelings for his third —and only other— best friend who happens to have secret feelings for only one of his boyfriends and  _ not _ him or the  _ other _ boyfriend.

What a mess.

»»———— XV ————««

“Well aren’t you a pretty pair.”

“Wh— huh?”

Aranea tilts her head back and looks down her nose at him, which is honestly  _ so _ unnecessary considering how she’s already towering over him with her tall heels and spiky armor. “You and the prince. You two aren’t exactly doing a fine job of hiding it. Might want to tone it down for your Imperial friends out there.”

“My—” Prompto casts about for a way to change the subject. “Hey, you’re the one working for the Empire!”

“I go where the money takes me,” Aranea shrugs, the ornamental-looking prongs on her pauldrons following the motion. “You got the funds to compete?”

“Uh… no? I mean, how much is it? Could I—”

“I’m just playing, kid.” Aranea jerks a nod up to the ceiling, vaguely in the direction of the world outside this terrifying underwater temple. “I think my time with them is just about up, anyway.”

“Oh,” Prompto peers around her down the hallway where Noct, Ignis, and Gladio are investigating down the tunnel rather than actually taking a breather like they all agreed to do. Prompto can’t wait until they find that mythril and get the hell out of here. “Um, good for you.”

Aranea procures an apple from somewhere and shines it on the weird half-skirt part of her armor. She inspects it, then glances up to meet Prompto’s eyes. “Want one?”

“I’m good, I think.”

“That’s too bad. They’re pretty good,” Aranea takes a loud, hearty bite of her fruit. “So, you and Speccy, then?”

Prompto sputters. “Listen, I don’t think that’s—”

“Nah, beefcake’s probably more your thing, isn’t he?” Aranea grins and Prompto swears her canines are more like fangs. “Twinks like big guys, don’t they? It’s all in the size difference.”

Should Prompto be offended, here? It kind of feels like he should be offended here. 

“Aw, don’t look at me like that. I’ve done my rounds in the community. My old girl waitressed a bar. You learn the types.”

“Your old… oh!” Prompto blinks. “Oh. Uh, cool. Cool.”

“Yeah, yeah, we’re all a rainbow down here. It’s great.”  _ Crunch. _ “Never answered me though, did you? Can’t decide? From what I’m seeing you have a bit of an  _ all of the above _ sort of situation if I had to bet on it, and I’m not the sort to make bad gambles.”

So it’s obvious.

Shit.

»»———— XV ————««

“Good morning,” Ignis draws back from Prompto, his lips and cheeks flushed. “How long have you been awake?”

“Not long,” Prompto follows to plant another,  _ chaster _ kiss on Ignis’s lips. “Got you real coffee, though. Took my chocobo to the outpost down the road. Two sugars and one cream. Should still be hot.”

“You are truly a god among men,” Ignis smiles in that soft, melty way that he always does when it’s early in the morning and he’s still sleep-mussed and comfortable. “I truly am a lucky one, aren’t I?”

Prompto is going to spontaneously combust. “Woah, hey Igster. I just bought you some coffee. It’s nothing special.”

“ _ You _ are something special.”

Now that’s just not fair.

»»———— XV ————««

Noct and Gladio are sparring and Prompto is going to die.

They’re on a flat shelf of rock outside the haven, banished there after Gladio swept Noct’s legs out from under him and he hit a chair which then fell into the fire.

The chair is fine! A little melted, maybe.

Okay, a  _ lot  _ melted.

They need a new chair.

But that’s not the point. The point is that Gladio is sweaty and shirtless and Noct is sparking with magic and ozone and every once in a while they draw to a standstill, one or the other caught in a hold or with a blade to their neck. The stand stock-still, chests heaving, and then exchange some quiet conversation or a considerably louder one liner before going right back into it.

Prompto is no stranger to seeing either one of them in action, but Gladio and Noct turning the shielding dynamic on its head to go against one another? It’s amazing. It’s like a dance, like a ballroom if there were less dresses and more swords and a metric ton of ass-related humor.

Hm. Come to think of it, Gladio and Noct would look  _ really _ good in dresses actually—

Focus, Prompto.

Prompto hasn’t the slightest idea what he was focusing on though, because at this point he’s spent so long zoning out and watching the two of them train that whatever he had been doing with his phone —sorting his gallery, maybe— has been long forgotten.

Gladio goes down after Noct phases through him and pushes him from behind. He falls on his hands and knees, laughing.

“Nice one, Noct,” Gladio sits back on his heels and plants his arms behind him for support. Noct circles around so he’s standing in front. “Pulled out a new one on me.”

“Yeah,” Noct waves a hand and their weapons, discarded on the ground, are dissolved back into the armiger. “Wasn’t really sure how phasing through a person would work, but I figured I would try it.”

Prompto can’t quite see their faces from this angle thanks to the distance and the direction the sun is shining on its way past high noon. They continue to talk, quieter so the sound doesn’t really carry as far as it was before, and they don’t move. Gladio just sits there on his knees at Noct’s feet, and Noct stands above him, and Prompto has to look away because suddenly there are a lot of parts of him that are very interested in that picture and absolutely none of those parts care that it is entirely a fantasy and also Prompto is sitting in public in the middle of the day.

“Prompto?” Ignis calls from across the haven. He’s relaxing in the shadow of the tent where he dragged his own camp chair to in the aftermath of the flaming chair debacle, and now he’s set his phone down on his knee and looking Prompto’s way.

“Yeah?”

“I have a question for you if you have the time.”

“Sure thing.”

»»———— XV ————««

Prompto has just come back from a grocery run with Noctis —that may or may not have taken a little longer than expected due to them getting  _ distracted _ on the way over— when Noctis shushes him and pulls him back from the haven’s edge and pushes him flat against the wall with one hand.

“Hey buddy, you know we already—”

“Wait,” Noct presses a finger to his lips then points vaguely up to the haven’s surface.

“—en’t you said anything?” Ignis asks. Prompto really isn’t one for eavesdropping, but he doesn’t exactly have a choice with Noct’s hand pressed flat to his stomach, leeching heat through his shirt to his skin. Noct is  _ really _ strong. Prompto almost feels like if he lifted his feet off the ground, he’d stay suspended against the stone by that point alone.

“Prompto told you?”

Wait, what?

“If he is aware of something specific that I am not, he has kept that to himself. I have simply been a little less dismissive of my ...observations lately. Particularly when it pertains to myself and the rest of you.”

Gladio clears his throat. “It didn’t seem very important. Besides, I’m hardly some lovelorn lady ready to die of rejection like it’s the Anysian Age.”

“You wouldn’t have to.”

“Ignis,” someone shifts in their chair, the plastic creaking and rocks scraping against the ground. “You understand why I can’t involve myself that way.”

“I believe I understand more than anyone just how much you  _ can _ .”

No way.

Prompto and Noct exchange looks. There’s something familiar in the way Noct’s smiling.

_ You too? _ Prompto mouths.

_ Of fucking course _ , Noctis reponds. Or maybe he says  _ a bucking force _ . Prompto is very bad at reading lips.

“This isn’t the time for something like this.”

“On the contrary, I think it is exactly the time for something like this if you want it. The world is in chaos, our country is largely dissolved, and we have very little idea of how long we may continue to live before the Empire brings their entire army down on our heads. There are certainly worse times to take risks.”

Noct’s hand creeps up Prompto’s torso to rest just over his heart. He looks focused for a moment, apparently feeling out Prompto’s jackrabbiting heartbeat, before his grin widens.

“I think we should talk to the others first,” Gladio says. He sounds somewhere between hesitant and happy, but further to the latter Prompto thinks.

“That should be easy considering they are sitting about a yard away below the haven,” Ignis replies.

Oh man. Busted.

Noct and Prompto creep out from their hiding place. Gladio is halfway to rising when they cross the runes, and manages to look somehow vulnerable as he meets Nocts and then Prompto’s eyes. Prompto isn’t the best at maintaining eye contact —it makes him nervous no matter who it is on the other end— but he tries.

“What do  _ you _ want?” Gladio asks. 

Prompto swallows. His feelings for Gladio are new, but they feel right. Everyone all together? It fits. It feels  _ good _ . “Well… uh, can’t argue with getting  _ three _ entire boyfriends, right?”

Gladio nods. “Noct?”

“Would have asked sooner if I knew which way you were swinging,” Noct makes a vague gesture toward Gladio. “At least with Prompto, it was obvious.”

“Hey, what does that mean?”

“The overcompensation,” Gladio and Noct reply simultaneously, and Prompto resists the urge to call jinx between fighting off the indignation. 

“Well, Gladio,” Ignis cuts in. “It seems we are all in agreement.”

Gladio takes a breath, then steps around the remains of the campfire and meets Ignis in the middle. 

»»———— XV ————««

Prompto has not kept count of how many kisses he’s had since his first, but his first one with Gladio is right in between one from Noctis and one from Ignis, and being sandwiched in the middle of his three boyfriends is a dream come true.

Fuck it, Prompto doesn’t even  _ care _ what’s to come in Altissia at this point. With this experience under his belt, Prompto is one hundred percent satisfied with whatever happens next. 

Even if it’s bad.

Even if it’s  _ really _ bad.


End file.
